King's Plan
by Rayeli
Summary: In which Julien tries to get Skipper to loosen up. Julien/Skipper


There was this drabble I wanted to post that was much too short, so I expanded on it a bit.

Animals belong to Dreamworks/Nickelodean and stuff.

* * *

If Kowalski had ever been asked about the chances of Skipper and Julien becoming a couple -a _romantic_ couple-, he might have said the odds were nil to none, off the top of his head. But even he knows statistics can't be applied to emotions as easily as, say, finding the odds of snow in the middle of July, or how Rico regurgitated an already lit dynamite stick from the bottomless depths of his stomach. The mind and its many complicated psychological processes weren't his forte, usually he left that up to Private or Marlene. Whatever catalyst was involved in the making of that improbable pairing, Kowalski was well aware some questions were better left untouched.

"All right, men, you know the drill for this training exercise." Skipper marched with his back straight in front of his team, commanding absolute attention. "First team to capture the flag wins, and this time the loser takes 50 laps around the zoo, capiche?" The penguins nodded in unison. "Now this time I expect improved performance. In the real world, time waits for no one. So we gotta make time eat our dust!

"Kowalski, you're with me." The taller penguin moved to Skipper's side with a curt 'yes, sir'. Ever so observant, he spotted something a fuzz of black and white from the closest tree. He smiled inwardly but said nothing of it. "Private and Rico, that leaves you together. We have 15 seconds to get into position starting.....now!"

King Julien watched as his Skipper slid off to some distant side of the zoo. Before it was a common custom for Julien to worm his way into whatever the penguins happened to be doing that day, but now he was perfectly content to be the main audience of their endeavors. Besides, Skipper wanted to keep any hint of their relationship on the lowdown for reasons Julien didn't fully comprehend.

But it didn't matter much to him. It wasn't anyone busy-ness anyways.

Moving the now empty coconut cup aside, the lemur king pondered just why the leader penguin insisted on working so much. It was no wonder he was so grumpy and serious all the time, he rarely allowed himself any time for fun. Julien was the complete opposite; back in Madagascar the king completely devoted his time to dancing, ruling his subjects, finding entertainment in some way, then dancing some more.

....not that this ritual was any different at the zoo. And look how happy (and devilishly handsome) he turned out to be.

But how did he know his Skipper was happy? In Julien's wise and humble opinion, the penguin needed some excitement in his life, and not the kind with dangerous missions and risking everyone's lives. Anything to take his mind off duty. But how was Julien to get the stubborn bird to do that?

After much profound brain thingies in his head, Julien sat up with a start. That's it! The plan was so clever yet so simple, it couldn't fail. Julien praised his own ingenuity and bounded off to the lemur habitat, where Maurice and Mort were waiting.

"Maurice! Bring me the best party music we have!"

The last human visitor to exit the zoo signaled it was time for Julien's plan to come to fruition. He cranked up the volume of the boomy-box -grinning evilly as he did so- to near its highest capacity, and waited.

As if on cue, the vigilant leader of the penguins showed up on scene, and Julien feigned coy-ish innocence as an accusing flipper was pointed his direction.

"Ringtail!" Skipper said, irritability plain on his face. "How many times to I have to tell you to-woah!"

"Shut up and dance with me, you silly penguin!"

As Julien pulled him in by the flippers, he twirled him around and engaged in playful dance moves, throwing the penguin in the air and gracefully catching him before he hit the ground. Skipper was all but happy.

"For the love of--Julien!" He sneered.

The lemur expected the protest, and continued dancing with Skipper anyways. "Don't be such a party-pooper! Dance, have fun! All this silly non-sense work is making you a grumpy little birdy."

Finally, Skipper pushed the party animal away, to Julien's disappointment. "Look, it's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do, Julien, but now isn't the time for this" He scanned the surroundings for any animal that could have been watching this embarrassing display. "Besides, you know this...dancing thing isn't my kind of gig."

Julien sulked. He was really hoping Skipper would loosen up for once. "I'm only trying to look after the well-being of my favorite penguin. Is that being so wrong? Is it?"

Skipper sighed, already feeling guilty for pushing his mate on the verge of tears.....but he did suppose Julien had a point. Taking this sort of break might do him some good after all. "Alright. I'll stay and dance. But only for a while, understood? Don't think I'll be staying here all night," he conceded.

Julien brightened considerably. "Thank you, Skipper! You will not be regretting it!" He leaned in gave an affectionate peck with a 'mwah!' at the side of the penguin's beak. Skipper blushed underneath his feathers.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's do this already."

And dance they did.


End file.
